Senator Montgomery Reports on 2016-2017 Budget Highlights

The budget lowers Personal Income Tax rates for middle class New Yorkers.

• With the middle class tax cuts of 2012, rates were lowered from 6.85 percent to 6.45 percent for taxpayers in the $40,000-$150,000 income bracket, and to 6.65 percent in the $150,000- $300,000 income bracket.
• Under these new reforms, the rate will drop even further beginning in 2018 and will continue to drop all the way to 5.5 percent when the cuts are fully phased in.
• These new lower tax rates will save middle class New Yorkers nearly $6.6 billion in just the first four years, with annual savings reaching $4.2 billion by 2025.
• As the new rates phase in, they will be the state’s lowest middle class tax rates in more than 70 years.
• When the tax cuts begin, they will benefit 4.4 million filers, growing to 6 million filers when fully phased in

• $31 million for Summer Youth Employment Program
• $15.8 million for Youth Development programs
• $3 million for Safe Harbour sexually exploited youth programs
• $320,500 for Kinship Navigator
• $700,000 for Community Reinvestment programs
• $3.5 million for S.N.U.G. (Gun Violence Prevention)
• $300,000 YouthBuild statewide
• $403 million Child Care subsidies
• $22.3 million for Advantage After School Programs
• $25.3 million to offset MTA costs for the Reduced Fare for School Children Program for NYC
• $2.2 million for Kinship Care, an increase of $900,000 over SFY 2015-16

• Budget provides a total of $24.8 billion in funding ($9.68 billion for NYC, an increase $525 million)
• One year tuition freeze for SUNY/CUNY
• Rejected the Governor’s proposal to shift 30% or $485 million of CUNY operating costs to NYC
• $143 million capital funding for CUNY
• $435 million capital funding for SUNY
• $1.04 billion in TAP funding

The 2017 budget provides funding for the following programs:

• $175 million for Community Schools (to transform failing schools and other high needs schools into community schools) - $28 million for NYC
• $18.3 million for Liberty Partnership Program
• $35.52 million for Higher Education Opportunity Program
• $ 3 million for Early College High School
• $15.7 million for Science & Technology Entry Program (STEP)
• $11.8 million for CSTEP
• $3 million for Foster Youth Initiative
• $95.6 million in Aid to Libraries
• $340 million for Universal Full-Day Prekindergarten program
• $2 billion Smart Schools program.
• $15.5 million for bi-lingual education grants
• $7.3 million for Adult Literacy Education
• $14.26 million for Teacher’s Centers
• Increased Social Worker Loan Forgiveness $250,000
• Extended temporary financial aid programs pertaining to Nurses, Physicians, and Social Workers by making them permanent
• $1 million for Career and Technical Education
• $1.24 Center for Autism and Related Disabilities
• $141,000 CUNY Child Care

Charter Schools:

• Increases support for charter schools statewide by an estimated $430 per pupil.
• Makes permanent the calculation of rental aid for New York City charter schools.

 NYS My Brother's Keeper Initiative— (Improving Outcomes for Boys and Young Men of Color) – $20 million funding allocation

• $2 million to establish the Office of Family and Community engagement
• $3 million to support the recruitment & retention of teachers of color
• $7.4 million in incentives to school districts to develop model cradle to college strategies aimed at improving the life outcomes for boys and young men of color
• $2 million for the expansion of model programs

Arthur O. Eve Opportunity Programs:

$225,000 for College Discovery

• $902,000 for Community College Childcare
• $2.5 million for ASAP (Accelerated Studies)
• $1.12 million for Joseph Murphy Institute
• $5 million for Education Opportunity Center
• $4 million for Advanced Technology Training and Information Networking (ATTAIN)
• $28.1 million for SEEK ($4.7 million increase)
• $32.2 million for EOP (Education Opportunity Program) - $5.4 million increase

Specialized High Schools

$2 million for specialized schools to prepare under-represented students for the specialized high school exam

For Capital expenses the state Legislature provided:

• An additional $40 million for system-wide critical maintenance at the senior colleges

• $300 million for the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), an increase of $123 million over FY 2016.
• Zero Emissions Vehicle and Electric Vehicle Rebate Program—to up to $2,000 to people who buy certain clean vehicles. The program would be administered by NYSERDA.
• $200 million for Water Quality Infrastructure Projects
• Increased the net metering for anaerobic digesters from a rated capacity from 1,000 kilowatts to 2,000 kilowatts
• Created a new climate change account within the EPF to include state support for municipal rechargeable vehicle charging infrastructure and fleet purchases.
• $68 million for the Regional Greenhouse Gas initiative

• Medicaid Growth Cost Shift to New York City—The final budget rejected the Governor’s proposal to reinstate New York City’s contribution toward growth in Medicaid expenses.
• State Legislators rejected the Governor’s proposal to establish limited service/retail clinics.
• $25 million for additional heroin and opiate related treatment, recovery and prevention services

• $10 million for heroin and opiate treatment, recovery, and prevention capital needs
• $2 million for NYC Dept. of Education Substance Abuse Prevention and Intervention Specialists
• $39,000 for School Based Health Centers
• $500,000 for Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program
• Tax abatement and exemption for rent regulation and rent controlled units occupied by senior citizens and people with disabilities is extended until June 30, 2020
• $1.9 billion dedicated to the House NY Initiative to End Homelessness in New York State
• $42 million for Mitchell-Lama housing projects rehabilitation
• $44.2 million for Low Income Housing Trust Fund
• $14 million for Homes for Working Families Program
• $15.7 million for NYSHP (NY Supportive Housing Program/STEHP (Solutions to End Homelessness Program /AIDS Housing
• $12.7 million Neighborhood Preservation Programs
• $600,000 for NY Supportive Housing Program
• $350,000 for Naturally Retirement Communities
• $350,000 for Neighborhood Naturally Recurring Retirement Communities
• $4.2 million for Main Street Program
• $1.4 million for Housing Opportunities Program for the Elderly
• $6.4 million for Public Housing Modernization Program
• $26 million for Affordable Housing Corp.
• $1 million for Access to Home Program

HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE:

Allows for the Superintendent of the Dept. of Financial Services to provide for a reduction in homeowner’s insurance rates when a homeowner completes a course on how to make the home more resilient to natural disasters. The Superintendent may provide such “actuarially appropriate reduction” for periods of three years.

The agreed-upon budget includes an increase in the minimum wage to $15/hr in New York City and Westchester/Long Island, and an increase to $12.50/hr in the rest of New York State. In New York City, the increase will take one year more for small businesses with less than 10 employees. For the rest of the state starting in 2022, each year the Commission of Labor will provide for an administrative increase to the upstate minimum wage valued at either the rate of inflation, or the rate of state personal income growth, whichever is greater. The increases are as follows:

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• This program’s benefits will be phased-in beginning in 2018.
• When fully implemented in 2021, benefits will be 67 percent of employee’s average weekly wage.
• $10 million will be transferred from workers' compensation fund to pay for the family leave program until family leave contributions have accrued sufficient to fund it.
• This program will be funded entirely through a nominal payroll deduction on employees (from $0.70 cents to $1.47 a week based on salary) so there is no additional costs to employers.
• Employees are eligible to participate after having worked for their employer for six months.

• The $27 billion MTA Capital Program includes:
  • $26.6 billion for improvement of capital facilities operated by the New York City Transit Authority, Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and MTA Bus and major initiatives including $1.5 billion for Phase II of the Second Avenue Subway.
  • 1,000 new subway cars
  • 1,400 new buses
  • Upgrades to track, signals, yards, depots, station and bridges